Small Town Murder - #303 - STM Express - Born To Win - Paragonah, Utah

Episode Date: July 29, 2022

This week, in Paragonah, Utah, a wild situation unfolds, as a man, who has been in prison for most of his life, and is about to stand trial for murdering a friend, takes some other friends out to rural trailer, so they won't testify against him. A disagreement, and the fear of his friend's knowledge of his guilt leads to a brutal murder, while forcing others to participate in digging a grave, before making one of the strangest declarations, ever, then eating a big murder burger! Once in prison, the crazy continues with an escape, where causes more trouble, then the whole story ends in a great big surprise! So wild! Along the way, we find out that Utah loves pageants, that nothing is more satisfying than a murder burger, and that if "nothing makes you hornier than killing a man", we're very frightened of you!Hosted by James Pietragallo and Jimmie WhismanNew episodes every Thursday!Donate at: patreon.com/crimeinsports or go to paypal.com and use our email: [e-mail] to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder & Crime In Sports!Follow us on...twitter.com/@murdersmallfacebook.com/smalltownpodinstagram.com/smalltownmurderAlso, check out James & Jimmie's other show, Crime In Sports! On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Wondery, Wondery+, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You're listening early and ad-free on Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yeah, choo-choo. Yay, indeed, Jimmy. Yay! Choo-choo! Yay, indeed, Jimmy. Yay, indeed. All aboard the murder train, everybody. My name is James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co-host.

I'm Jimmy Wissman. Thank you, folks, so much for joining us on another crazy edition of Small Town Murder Express. Like we say, 10 pounds of lightning in a... It's like a half-pound bag this week, because it's... In a Ziploc. It's going to explode. It's wild. This is a crazy episode, let me tell you right now. pounds of lightning in a it's like a half pound bag this week because it's it's gonna explode it's wild this is a crazy episode let me tell you right now very quickly before we get to that

off the top thanks for everything you do for us shut up and give me murder.com is where you get everything all your merchandise and your tickets to live shows my goodness we are going to be san francisco cobs comedy club on august the 12th we have two shows there that, we are going to be San Francisco Cobbs Comedy Club on August the 12th. We have two shows there that night. They're going to be different shows, so feel free to come to both. You're going to see two different stories. The next night we are in Sacramento, and then on September 10th, we're at

the Pabst in Milwaukee. Oh, shit! Oh, we're doing a big thing here. This is our biggest venue we've ever played, so this will be, if we sell this out, our biggest show we've ever done. Big this will be, if we sell this out, our biggest show we've ever done. Bigger than Chicago. Bigger than Minneapolis. Bigger than Boston.

And where is that? Milwaukee. That's right. Milwaukee. So come on, Milwaukee. Represent. Get out there. Beat the other cities.

You're a bunch of champions. And if you went to the Chicago show, it's going to be a completely different show. So you can feel free to come to that also and see it again. Or a different show. See us again in a different show. So do that. Shut up and give me murder.com. Patreon.com slash crime and sports.

Get all your bonus stuff there. You're going to get four new episodes every month. You're going to get crime and sports episodes. You're going to get small town murder episodes. You're going to get it all. You're going to get a shout out at the end of the show. You're going to get everything this week on crime and sports we're going to talk about john rocker for the bonus episode yeah well just a terrible guy just a

complete jerk who revels in being a complete jerk but not in a good way not like a rock star way in a real just some real dick he's just a dick and then for small town murders bonus we're going to talk about a case from Skidmore, Missouri. It's the most requested case I've ever seen. Had it since the first week we've done the show. People have been requesting it. It's a crazy case of a guy who everyone hated in a town. He's murdered in front of many witnesses.

Upstanding citizens, too. This isn't the underground meth culture or anything like that. Quality people. Nobody will say who did it because they all hate him so much. It's wonderful. We'll talk about that. That is patreon.com slash crime and sports. That said, let's get it on, Jimmy.

Let's sit back. Let's get it on. Everyone out there, clear the lungs. Let's go sit back wherever you are. Hopefully nowhere too public. Maybe in your car, in your house, that sort of thing. Scare the shit out of your dog whatever you have to do sit back and shout shut up and give me murder all right

let's do this jimmy all right let's go on a trip shall we what do you say we are going to utah this week oh boy yeah going to utah we are going to it's paraguna utah it's it's spelled like paragona but it said paragona apparently that's what i've been told here uh p-a-r-a-g-o-n-a-h it sounds like some sort of weird sounds like a planet in star wars doesn't it like i'm going the paragona galaxy we have to go out there whether it doesn't it like i'm the paraguna galaxy we have to go out there whether it doesn't it though i don't know it's a very it sounds native american too is that what's inspired by yes yeah that's uh it's a lot of the things in this region are here sure so the area we're going to go to it's called red creek and the nearest kind of town is paraguna

but it's that feels racist red creek is well no it's actually a creek with red water. That's why. Oh, because of the Colorado. It had. Yeah. So they noticed there was red, red water. So they called it Red Creek. So there you go. Little Salt Lake Valley. This is apparently this area. The Red Creek was originally known by the early travelers on the Mormon Road as the second creek in the Little Salt Lake Valley, now known as the Parowan Valley. And, yeah, so there you go. That's kind of the history. This is a very rural area. Population here, we're talking 556. Holy shit. In this area.

And it's a big area, too. So these are vast. Yeah, there's a lot of vast areas like Fruitland, where we'll talk about one of the places here, which is just this big open space with 400 people. It's no fruit. No fruit. No. About like an hour and a half outside Salt Lake City.

No, for God, no fruit. There's nothing. There isn't even a tree or a shrub. It's just it's bleak. Fruitland. Fruitland. The fruit. But I think it's something that's probably biblical, I would imagine shrub it's just it's bleak fruitland fruitland the fruit but i think it's something that's probably biblical i would imagine if it's because i would hope this area is uh quite mormon

uh 72 percent mormon as a matter of fact holy shit out of the 556 and the demographics are very weird and i'm not saying that's what it is but they call to light a warren jeff's type of situation because i was just gonna ask that yeah there's a lot of people that are 65 and older and a lot of people that are under four years of age so that creeps me out a little bit because normally i'm like oh you know i'm sure that's just a weird thing but here it could be not in utah it could be a colorado city type situation we don't know. And I'm not saying it is, but you never know.

Household income is about average. The housing prices are about average. Things to do here is what we really need to talk about. This is crazy. The Iron County Fair, which I believe we've discussed before. Have we? I think we have in another episode. But this, wow.

This year, I'm looking at the details and it's something else. Starting off with the beautiful baby contest. Gross. That's weird. Yeah. Critters in the sky is the theme for the 2022 Iron County Fair beautiful baby contest. What the fuck does that mean? Adorable babies are plentiful in Iron County.

Okay. And if you want to see proof, I don't need proof of that. I'll take your word for it. Proof. Look, show me. I want a whole group of adorable babies. Check out the centerfold on this. Look at this one.

Visit the retro fitness stage at the Iron County Fairgrounds on Saturday, where the Iron County's most beautiful babies will be gathering at 10 a.m. If your baby is the cutest around, enter him or her in the annual contest with an entry fee of only $5. The contest is open to babies up to 24 months old. Boys and girls will compete separately, divided into the following age groups, 0 to 6 months, 7 to 12 months, and 13 to 24 months how are they gonna compete you can't compare a newborn to a kid that's a year and a half this one's got like teddy gram

crumbs all over his face this nah you can't compare so um the winners will receive a wagon of their very own to be pulled in the labor day parade oh boy so tell me about crit pulled in the Labor Day parade. Oh, boy. Tell me about Critters in the Sky. I don't know. That's called birds, guys. I guess you're supposed to dress your kids like birds or something, like costumes they put them in. I got a feeling it's just a bunch of bald eagles. It's probably, yeah.

I think you're right. I think you're right. There's also, and some of this stuff sounds fun, and some of it sounds terrible. Let's see here. A demolition derby. That could be fun to watch. Yeah. fair got talent oh yeah no i don't think it does go out on a limb here and say i think that's a stretch probably this is a very rural area i i i tend to think

that is an unwatchable show that sounds awful go on it's a bunch of parents forcing their children to sing that's what that is the little buckaroo junior rodeo no no disturbing would be a goring there of a child i'm sure it's actually kind of fun to watch kids i'm sure yeah it's not your kid you're like yeah fuck that kid oh look at him look at him go limp a while the miss iron county rodeo pageant there's several pageants there's the miss iron county rodeo pageant that's your miss iron county rodeo at that point that's like you're right i don't know if that's like a more rugged chick you know a chick who wears more leather i don't know what that is because then there's also a miss iron county i don't know if she's got to be like that's more like an evening gown type of yeah i'm not

sure you got the denim girl and you got the lace girl. And you got the, that's what I'm thinking too. There's a mud bog. Okay. I'm just going to have cars and a mud bog. A tractor pull, obviously. There's a mud bog. You're going to have a tractor pull.

There's a mud bog and a tractor pull. I mean, come on. They're basically the same thing, but I guess if you do one with nothing attached to it, that's kind of cool, too. Cornhole, of course. And then in the entertainment tent, oh, boy, we have Branson Anderson. Beats me. I hate that it rhymes. Eric Dodge.

Nope. My friend Johnny Ford and Charlie Chevy are going to also be there. Eric Dodge. Daryl Magnum yeah along with ronnie ruger and bobby browning and sally six hours gonna be in the mix i believe in what the fuck is that that is too much i'm eric dodge this is daryl magnum we just name ourselves after things we like see that's how it works um johnson creek is another band then the coloroggers, which are a bunch of children who clog. Well, I call it color.

It's a bunch of white kids. Oh, yeah, yeah. They're dressed in green, though. It's weird. There's a 4-H talent show, of course. And then, closing it all out, I assume, I just hope they're the headliners, the Ukulele ladies will be there. Oh, boy.

Oh, boy. Yeah. They're best described through their theme song, which says, ukulele ladies, play their ukuleles. We are here to sing for you. Ukulele ladies, play their ukuleles. Do a little hula, too. If you know the song, just sing it right along along for we will sing the old and new ukulele ladies play their ukuleles having fun is what we do so this is the most utah shit

so go see the ukulele ladies that said let's talk about a murder shall we let's talk about a murder that show in a town that showcases the widest of the white shit i could talk about a murder shall we let's talk about a murder that show in a town that showcases the widest of the white shit i could talk about that county fair for a month we could sit here for hours and talk about that so i gotta move on or else it's gonna be oh boy yeah so here we go let's go to a murder here let's let's talk about a guy first of all he's he's kind of the man to talk about first gerald paul brown is his name okay born in 1943 um we're going to catch up with him in 76 77 but we're going to go back and give you a little history on him first here so he is best described from a newspaper uh where he's wanted at one point in 1968 yeah we'll about that. He escapes from prison after being convicted of burglary, forgery, and auto theft.

He's a good guy. I like him. He's your kind of guy. He's fun. My kind of guy, this guy. Yeah, he's fun. Quote, brown is about 5'9", weighs 155 pounds, has dark brown hair and hazel eyes. Tattoos include an eagle on a flag and dice labeled, quote,

born to win. When you hear this entire story, the thing that's going to come to mind is not born to win. We'll put it that way. We have to name this episode. I've got to write that. Born to win.

Wow. The more of an ironic tattoo has never existed. And on his left arm... I'm doing all right, and I've got born to lose tattooed on the back of my arm that's normal but born to win and then you have this guy's life that we'll discuss is awesome wanted he's also got a cross with a snake on it and on one and then mom on his right arm as well he is a walking uh contradictory he really is contradiction and back then in the 60s people didn't have like visible tattoos unless they were like in the navy for 10 years or something that you'd have tattoos or you were in the hell's angels there was

otherwise it was like what the hell did you do were you in prison like i don't what happened so do you expect to be in there yeah jesus you didn't think ahead did you do were you in prison like i don't what happened so do you expect to be in there yeah jesus you didn't think ahead did you sir so um anyway he's in jail for all this shit basically by the mid 70s he spent on and off a total of about 10 years of his adult life in prison of his you know by the mid 70s he's like 33 and he spent 10 of those years in jail so a third of his life pretty much adulthood yeah pretty much a third of his life pretty much. All of his adulthood. Yeah, pretty much a third of his life in jail. He's been in trouble since he was 14, in and out of juvie.

He's a mess, this guy. And he's got one of the grossest and, for small-town murder, best quotes in the history of the world coming up later. I mean, it's one of those where you just look at it and you go, I have to read that five times and make sure it's correct. Even on its face it's bad? Oh, boy, it's wild. So May 30th, 1968. He's in prison. Okay.

All right? Burglary, forgery, auto theft, other things. He's been caught for being wanted. Buggery, you name it. Yeah. Well, that's when he was wanted. Then he's in prison and he escapes from prison in 1968. Three inmates, him and two other inmates, escape from Point of the Mountain.

It's a Utah state prison. It's a minimum security facility that he's in at this point here. It's pretty easy. Guards said the men were last seen at 1030 p.m. It's Gerald, who's 26 at this point, and a guy named Larry Burt Price, who's 27, and a guy named Harvey Dorton here. Price is serving one to 20 years for forgery, and the other guy is serving five years for issuing a check with intent to fraud. One to 20. What a window. with intent to fraud. One to 20, what a window.

That's a lot. They used to give these big sentences. A guy later sentenced to five to life and you're like, that's five to life? Unless he's 97 years old, that's a really weird sentence. That could go either way. So, you know, make a stand here. Pick a sentence and give it to him.

I guess that gives them all the opportunity to reform in prison because if you get to be a functioning member soon, then watch out. If it's possible to reform someone in five years, then we shouldn't have the word life in there probably then just in case. And if it might take life, maybe let's say – if it might take life, it should take at least 15 then, right, or something. Probably, yeah. It's a hell of a leech. Either way, these three aren't – like it's not three violent criminals. take at least 15 then right or something i don't probably yeah but these bleach either way these

three aren't like it's not three violent criminals none of these none of them have violence in their yeah and what they're in prison for it's all forgery and all that kind of shit so that's at least good here uh price has the word he has uh two hearts and a ribbon and the name larry tattooed on his arm uh because his name is Larry, which is hilarious. It just sounds funny, like Larry's in love with another Larry. I love that Larry. Well, I mean, I'm Larry, too. So they were working in a prison farm is what they were working on.

We hear about this all the time with these minimum securities back then. They scaled the chain-lengthened barbed wire fence and took off uh 11 o'clock bed check they weren't there and so they were looking around for them they couldn't find them around the facility said they must have climbed the fence that's the only way they can uh they could have gotten out so a week later they still can't find them uh the warden said quote this is in the newspaper i i gotta think they got like a public relations guy now for this reason he said quote we don't have any idea where they are no sir don't say that you know oh jesus did he just say we don't have any idea where they are say at least we feel like we're closing in there's a net you know something you got a couple of leads anything he said they have no identification whether they even left the area or not or they could be hiding

out right around the prison right here they could be in your yard who knows that's the newspaper check behind your bushes they could be prisoners there could you check your closets please oh my god so clues indicated they crossed a field and den and Rio Grande railroad tracks to the west of the prison. So their general direction would have led to the Bluffdale area. A few days later, they say, we think we know where they are. Vegas. Now they're in Vegas, we think. They're on vacation.

Yeah. They found a shirt that was assigned to Harvey Dorton, one of the inmates, in Vegas, I guess. So they said they found an abandoned pickup truck with this shirt in it, and they fingerprinted it, and it matched the Dorton guy. So they think that they're in Vegas. But they don't know how long they were there for, when they left, or anything like that. So finally, they are captured weeks later in wyoming wow that's a long run yeah they got all the way around out of there it's it's wild so yeah they're captured in wyoming uh the warden said they were they were arrested in like a uh like a field area

basically they were you know in a wide open. They were like hiding in the bushes, essentially, like they didn't have anywhere to go. They had no resources or anything like that. They must have gotten help about prison escapes. It's hard. Yeah. So that's June 12th, 68. So they're gone for two whole weeks. That's a lot.

So by August of 1976, you can kind of project how his life is going he's a in trouble since 14 he's got shit he wasn't even in jail for that long and he already and he escaped prison like he's very impulsey i would say not a lot of impulse control going on here so let's head up to uh august 27th 1976 we'll meet up with a couple guys here that we're going to meet now um he's hanging out himself uh gerald is hanging out with two men one named samuel bingham and another named steven loche l-o-l-o-s-h or losch or loche whatever gerald's paid his debt to society he's out of prison he's out of yeah but he spent like we said 10 years of his adult life in prison. So, yeah, he's mainly been in prison for his whole life. He's just in and out.

So these guys here, they're hanging out. They're in a pickup truck. Samuel Bingham and Gerald Perry are in a pickup truck, and they pick up Stephen Loesch. Okay? They pick him up outside the Caravan Lounge in American Fork, Utah. Okay. The Caravan Lounge. Lo Fork, Utah. Okay. The Caravan Lounge. Loesch was bleeding from his ear.

Pick that guy up. So it's a friend of theirs. And they're like, you know, Steve, what up? You know what I mean? Yeah. You got like an aggressive brain tumor and somebody kicked your ass. What's going on? Watch your ear, Craig.

So he said that people beat him up. He got beat up and kicked around and and uh they were pissed off about it there he got in a fight with a guy named uh max sunny cordova who is also yes sunny sunny's 25 and um yeah so they're like they're pissed off and they're going hey let's go find the guys who kicked your ass that's what we we'll do here. Now there's three of us. Let's go get revenge. It was two on one. Now it'll be three on two.

So now we got the odds. So they do. They eventually, after driving around, shortly after midnight, they pull up in their car behind a pickup truck. It's a white pickup truck, and they block it from being able to exit, this pickup truck. This is Sonny being able to exit this pickup truck okay this is sunny uh sunny and gerald brown and steven loesch they block in this truck inside the pickup truck is sunny cordova yeah perpetrator of the ass kicking yeah and a guy named cole julian who's 19

years old they're hanging wasn't part of it i don't think he was part of the ass kicking no i think this is just a later time because this is a couple hours later because they had to go drive around looking for them cole's about to catch an ass beating for somebody else yeah well he's got to watch out here so they um he knew of it he had heard about it julian did cole julian and apparently when the truck pulled up and stopped, they he recognized the car. Cordova did Sonny. And he said to Cole Julian, quote, get ready for a fight. So right now, apparently we're about to throw down here.

So apparently at that point, a man approaches the car. And this man who approached the car is the Cole does not know him. Cole knows Stephen Bingham and he knows Stephen or he knows Bingham and he knows Loesch personally. car and this man who approached the car is the cole does not know him cole knows stephen bingham and he knows stephen or he knows bingham and he knows uh loesch personally samuel bingham and stephen loesch he knows them personally but he does not know gerald uh gerald brown he doesn't know him at all i want to call him gerald perry from crime and sports a couple weeks ago so badly i want to call him that so he doesn't know g Brown, though. So he doesn't know old born to win here. He's never been to jail.

Old born to win is the one coming up to the truck. So he approaches the truck born to win. And Gerald says, quote, So you're the dirty motherfucker who beat up my friend. That's his line. That's his opener. Not bad. Not bad. You know, you're in for a fight here. That's his line. That's his opener. Not bad. Not bad. You know, you're in for a fight here, so it looks like.

So they, you know, they were, they kind of, everything kind of went back and forth for a second. And out of nowhere, Bingham says that Loesch was out of the car as well, but he was standing back some. And Gerald was the main instigator here i guess bingham then walked over toward the driver's seat of the truck uh but at that point bingham sees that gerald has a gun gerald so he kind of backs up a little bit and bingham goes back into the car he's like i don't want any part of this he gets back in the car this under control so it doesn't need me so uh gerald ends up walking up to the driver's seat of the truck now gets closer and shoots sunny cordova in the head what the fuck just fires it in there once in the head no x doesn't even like get an argument out

of him nothing doesn't just shoots him in the head then he shoots julian cole too who he doesn't know from shit he's never met him before. Never met him. Just shoots this other dude in the car. Julian threw up his arm to defend himself and got shot there. We'll talk about that. Sonny dies quickly from his wound here. Son of a bitch. Yeah, the bullet went through his shoulder.

I'm sorry, Cole Julian, the bullet bullet entered i went through his shoulder and pierced his esophagus and he was in the hospital for over a month after that getting his esophagus fixed and we'll talk about cordova's injuries in a second here so um yeah uh later on when he you know comes to cole julian will say i didn't know the third man i only know bingham and loach i didn't know him he said that uh they asked him who shot him, and he said it wasn't Sam Bingham or Stephen Loesch because I know both of them must have been the third man in the car. So, yeah. The state medical examiner later on will say that Cordova died of a bullet wound to the head, entered through the left side of his face, and lodged in the back of his head after going through his brain. Oh, my. Died rather quickly. Yeah. left side of his face and lodged in the back of his head after going through his brain so oh my

died rather quickly yeah so september 76 there's charges filed for this murder obviously okay um stephen loesch is charged with second degree murder and aggravated assault for being there um bingham james samuel bing. He's charged with obstructing justice. In connection with the shootings. Because he didn't. When he was questioned about it. He wouldn't say shit. And he actually lied to the cops.

And all that sort of thing. So yeah. They're both charged. In complaints here. Now the judge. He says. Set Mr. Loesch's bail. At $20,000 cash. or $40,000 property bond.

And Bingham has $10,000 cash or $20,000 property bond. Okay. A warrant is issued for Gerald Paul, who's on the run. As soon as this murder happened, he takes off, doesn't come back for two months. He's gone. So the other two get arrested, brought in. They make bail. Bail is low.

They both make bail and they're both out. Bingham and Loesch, okay? So Brown is charged with second-degree murder with also unlawful force or violence, likely to do bodily injury to Julian Cole as well. likely to do bodily injury to Julian Cole as well. So eventually, two months later, he finally surfaces again and turns himself into a Utah Highway Patrol trooper. Okay, so he gets there. He's got a public defender. He's on second-degree murder charges.

He's got a criminal record as long as your fucking arm. Long as it gets, yeah. He's also known to escape jail and went on the run for two months as soon as he did this so known as a pretty big piece of shit not a guy you want to give a low bail to is what we're saying here so his bail is set at twenty thousand dollars cash or forty thousand dollar property bond which is nothing forty that's if someone you know owns a decent trailer you can get out is what that means yeah um he puts up a 40 000 property bond and is fucking out the same day so second degree murder he goes on the run for it prison for 10 years out of 33 yeah born to win tattooed on his fucking arm

and you're gonna go you know what we should let him out. I feel like he's going to be a good flight risk. He's going to show up for court, probably not do anything bad while he's out there. So there was a fugitive warrant for him and all this shit before that. So anyway, the trial starts for Cordova. Now, Loesch has been subpoenaed to be a witness. They end up dropping the murder charges against him and basically he makes a deal but he has to testify okay somehow he's still hanging out with gerald brown even though i don't understand what's going on by a beer i gotta tell your story

in like a really bad light by your beer by your beer so the two star witnesses are going to be cole julian the guy the survivor who got shot. Obviously, he looked at his face. And then there it's also going to be Stephen Loesch because he knew about the plan going in. He knew he was standing behind him when it happened. You know, he's a big star witness here. So the trial comes around. It's nine men and three women in the jury.

And Loesch doesn't show up for the trial. What? Doesn't show up for the trial. What? Doesn't show up. So they put a warrant out for his arrest because he's subpoenaed. He has to be there. So anyway, this going on. We'll talk about the first day of the trial for a second here. This is Gerald's trial.

Now, Gerald, like we say, he's out. So, I mean, he leaves. He goes home at the end of the night after the trial and all that. So the trial's going on here, and there's a guy named James Hampton also testified to the fight that took place earlier with Stephen Loesch and all that. Precipitated this? Yeah, they said that Julian and Cordova had warned him at that point. Or, I'm sorry, Julian had been warned by Cordova, get ready for a fight when lotion, uh, Gerald pulled up and all that. Cole Julian testified that he was not acquainted with the man who had approached his truck.

Um, at all. He said, you see her, the dirty motherfucker who beat up my friend, didn't know who he was. And then all of a sudden he shot people. So he tried to put his hand up to, you know, to, uh, ward it off and all that sort of shit. Now, he testified in a preliminary hearing that he never saw the face of the guy who shot him. Really? So they asked him about that, and he said, I testified that because I was scared.

He described the guy as having a dark beard and a good growth of beard and dark hair. So that would be mr brown at that point so either way he identified two of the three men as being sam bingham and steven loesch he didn't know the guy who shot him he said as that goes on so anyway steven loesch didn't show up he's supposed to be there where the fuck is steven loesch okay we'll find out about that in a minute but back to the trial quick okay we'll bang the trial out quick so i'm so scared for him samuel bingham's also got to be a witness here because he was an eyewitness and he testified at trial that uh uh here he said that i just heard

i heard i just oh that i'm sorry he told him, Gerald told Bingham, quote, I just headshotted two motherfuckers for messing with my brother. That's what he tells him. So he then says that, quote, then later on he testifies, something to the effect of, I shot them both in the head or I headshotted them or something to that effect. So the defense really tries to pick that apart like it's a difference, really which one he said so that's a big part of the case um another so they called 10 prosecution witnesses um you know obviously there's tons of evidence against him eyewitnesses that were there yeah this is bad yeah women saw him as well. Another guy they called, who was this Ron Malachi of Orem, he testified that Bingham, who was in the same vehicle as Brown the night of the shooting, had showed them a pistol in which Mr. Bingham carried with him in the vehicle.

So they're saying it was Bingham's nose more than he says because it was his goddamn gun. His gun. Yeah. He also said that Bingham showed him two bullet holes in his vehicle and he said that bingham said he'd shot the car himself why the fuck would you shoot your own car who are you richard pryor what's going on i'm having a bad night yeah so um another one here uh carol gurney who is the owner of a pool hall in pleasant grove yeah she said that bingham had pawned a similar pistol with her overnight so he could borrow twenty dollars in the past so several

people identify the murder weapon as belonging to samuel bingham um another one christine faye morton who was in a truck talking to the victims at the time of the shootings nearby um she identified gerald paul brown as the man who fired the gun and uh terry lynn franson another person or her friend which is a friend of the first woman here she said that she didn't see the face of the man who fired the weapon but the general description fits this guy there you go okay that's not good evidence it's not great evidence but the guy who you shot yeah it's the the worst part of it is his the guys he came with bingham and loach are the guys now bingham testified against him that looks

terrible but the defense puts the gun in bingham's hand is it being his gun and everything like that and loach isn't here to to back it up all they've got is this guy yeah right all this all they've got is this guy grows a great beard that's it did it grew a great beard that's all we've got yeah who knows so the verdict comes in guilty of second degree murder holy shit okay it's sentenced to you sir may fuck off five years to life what five he's the five to life born to win jimmy five to life. Born to win, Jimmy. Five to life. He wins like a motherfucker. In May of 1980, near Anaheim, California, Dorothy Jane Scott noticed her friend had an inflamed red wound on his arm and seemed unwell. She insisted on driving him to the local hospital to get treatment.

While he waited for his prescription, Dorothy went to grab her car to pick him up at the exit, but would never be seen alive again. Leaving us to wonder, decades later, what really happened to Dorothy Jane Scott? From Wondery, Generation Y is a podcast that covers notable true crime cases like this one and many more. Every week, hosts Erin and Justin sit down to discuss a new case, covering every angle and theory, walking through the forensic evidence and interviewing those close to the case to try to discover what happened.

And with over 450 episodes, there's a case for every true crime listener. Follow the Generation Y podcast on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Generation Y ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's all a lighthearted nightmare on our podcast, Morbid. free right now by joining Wondery Plus. 28 people. With a touch of humor. I'd just like to go ahead and say that if there's no band called Malevolent Deity, that

is pretty great. A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing. This mother f***er lied. Like a liar. Like a liar. And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal. Or you love to hop in the Wayback Machine and dissect

the details of some of history's most notorious crimes, you should tune in to our podcast, Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to episodes early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. So where the fuck is Stephen Loesch? I'd love to know. Gerald's in prison.

Well, we have to go back to the day before the trial to find out. Okay. April 12th, 1977. Stephen Loesch had been served a subpoena to obviously testify here. So he's supposed to be there the next day. And another one, Luann Ross, was also named as a witness, but she hadn't been served. So she doesn't have to testify until she's served. So to ensure that Luann Ross couldn't be served the subpoena, Brown decided he was going to hide her, basically.

So he hid her. He took her to a trailer located out in Red Creek, which is in the middle of nowhere. And Stephen Loesch also agreed not to testify as well, and he said he'd stay out there at the trailer until the trial was over. Yeah, keep an eye on her. And then he'd take whatever consequences came from it, he said. Now, on April 12, 1977, we have Gerald Brown, his buddy, his friend, I should say, because his name is Buddy.

His buddy, Buddy? His buddy, Buddy. Buddy I should say, because his name is Buddy. His buddy, Buddy? His buddy, Buddy. Buddy Cummer is his name. K-U-M-M-E-R. Buddy Cummer. Oh, yeah. That is like a redneck porn star. Buddy Cummer.

He wears a trucker hat the whole time. He's the one with the trucker hat, right? Yeah, that's right. Buddy Cummer. Only fuck whitetail. That's right. Only fuck whitetail. That's right. Only whitetail. And also a guy named Michael O'Neill is involved in this as well.

So anyway, Buddy Comer drives Gerald and Stephen Loesch in his own, in Comer's truck here from American Fork, Utah out to the Red Creek area. Luann's already out there? Luann's already out there okay the three of them drank about two cases of beer on the way hell yeah that's a lot of beer for three people to drink this isn't a 12 hour ride jimmy this is like an hour and a half they drank two cases of beer they are hammering it that's a lot of beer were they shotgunning it like they have a fucking yeah like you got a bartender racing yeah gravity thing going or they're wearing hats with the fucking two beers

wild this is all in a car holy shit as if that wasn't enough along the way they also let's see gerald took prolutin which is an amphetamine it's upper. He's also drinking whiskey on top of the cases of beer as well. Dear Lord. And Stephen Loesch was drinking whiskey beer, taking Proludin and also Valium. So he's taking Speed and Valium and drinking at the same time, which seems like, let's see what happens. Will I slur my speech?

Will I be hyper? Will I be tired? Will it all balance out? Now you'll never know the difference know there's strobe lights in the cab of this truck this is the craziest rave i've ever heard this is a hillbilly fucking four-wheeled rave going through the through the plateaus and maces of utah jesus christ so at some point along the way, Loesch asks Gerald for more Valium. And apparently that's the line for Gerald. He said, I am not giving you shit. I ain't giving you no more Valium.

Two cases of beer ain't enough to fuck you up. Whiskey, fucking speed, Valium. He says that I need it for my trial tomorrow. I'm on trial for murder I gotta be on Valium so I look calm I gotta be cool calm and collected so at this point Loche started to become pissed off about it like come on man I'm fucking staying out here so I don't testify against you give me some Valium you know what I mean good point so according to the other guy here according to buddy cummer this started to quote rub gerald and rub gerald in a way okay piss him off apparently so apparently cummer says that uh loach tells

gerald that loach uh you know i can do six months in county jail for contempt of court standing on my head but that you're gonna end up spending 10 years in prison so can you do that so he's kind of like fucking with him you won't give me value i'll start talking about how long you're going to prison for this is bad so then loche asked asked gerald here if he would quote be a punk for another inmate. So now he's asking, will you be a prison bitch? Which is, you know. You gonna take it in the ass? So he's getting, Gerald's getting angrier and angrier as this goes on here.

And I would say a guy who spent a third of his life in prison isn't the guy to taunt with this type of shit, probably. Probably the last fella you want to be. with this type of shit probably probably the last fella you want yeah yeah born to anything is you know born to win is a confident statement is all i'm saying so anyway um they reach the trailer and gerald's good and pissed off now they get to the trailer luann is there and also michael o'neill who's another friend of theirs they're all there so lu So Luann Ross, Michael O'Neill, everybody's there. The three of the guys get out of the truck, Buddy Kummer, Gerald, and Stephen Loesch. Now, this is what happens now.

Kummer heads to the back of the trailer to take a leak, he said, allegedly. Who knows what he's doing back there. You drink two cases of beer, you're going to want to piss. I would think they would have stopped eight, nine times on the way, right? Yeah, you'd do five miles and have to piss i would think they would have stopped eight nine times on the way right so yeah you do five miles and have to piss again jesus i drank four beers i gotta my bladder's gonna explode so loche goes to the front of the trailer to piss as well you know it's got it's a two bathroom trailer it's very nice they're outside james that's what i mean it's a too bad it's a too too outside areas to piss trailer i mean it's a four-sided trailer there's technically four bathrooms four bathrooms maybe

one inside there's five bathrooms this is luxurious so they do that now cummer turned around and he bumped into after he took a leak here he he bumps into Gerald, who's already coming out of the trailer. Apparently, at this point, Gerald said something to Kummer about a hole. Okay? Quote, something about a hole, which is weird. At this point, Gerald runs over to the truck and grabs Buddy Kummer's gun out of what he called the jockey box, which is the glove compartment. What? I don't know where the term jockey box came from,

but Buddy Comer calls a glove compartment a jockey box, buddy. That's all I'll tell you what. It's a goddamn jockey box, buddy. Don't you know nothing? Well, a glove compartment, that's a very shitty name for for it anyway nobody ever has gloves in there maybe this guy puts a pair of his underpants in there and that's why it's a jockey box it's a jockey box because it's tiny like a jockey that's what i feel like it is there's that and i always got a clean pair of jockeys in there keep them in there just in case because i

shit myself once twice a week i'm not gonna lie to you i keep like a fresh six-pack from the walmart in there i just keep them in there you never know my mom told me if i'm ever in a car accident i hope i'm wearing clean underwears so i always have a fresh pair of jockeys in the jockey box as i'm dying i'll change them so he went in the jockey box cummer thought that g Gerald was coming at him with the gun. So Buddy Kummer said, oh, shit, and he ran into the trailer. And O'Neal was in there. O'Neal was just getting dressed. And Buddy says to O'Neal, stay in the trailer.

He said, quote, stay in the trailer because something's coming down. Buddy Kummer I just want to talk to. He's talking jockey boxes something's coming down this guy's awesome like i want to hear how he describes everything rubbed it in a certain way yeah i just yeah rubbed him a certain way i just want to hear him describe a movie just describe a movie you've seen i want to hear how you tell this i'll tell you what this it made him angrier than a raccoon that got its tail stepped on by a grizzly bear buddy i'll tell you what he got angry i'm to describe his favorite meal to me anything make him feel just anything so um he said

something's coming down at that point buddy comer heard two shots okay two gunshots and then he heard because it's a trailer, it's thin walls. He heard Loesch out there yelling, quote, don't, Paul, don't. Because he's Gerald Paul Brown. His friends call him Paul. And then he heard Loesch's footsteps as he ran around the trailer. That's a thin wall when you can hear people's footsteps outside. That's very thin.

Very, very thin. It's a tin wall. So Luann Ross said that she heard Loche yell while he was running around the trailer saying, quote, no, Paul, don't. I'm with you. Like, hey, it's cool. I'm on the same. We're on the same team. Then there was two more shots fired. Okay.

Then a pause. So everyone was like, okay, is it over? And then another shot was fired. Oh, boy. Then a pause. So everyone was like, okay, is it over? And then another shot was fired. So Buddy Kummer looks out the window. Tell you what, buddy, let's see what's going on here. He looks out the window and sees Loesch lying on the ground. He said he was on his right side. And he sees Gerald Paul Brown bending over him with a gun in his hand.

You know, like looking over and making sure he was dead. gerald came to the trailer and said to comer quote come on bud we got a grave to dig which is a terrifying thing for your friend to tell you yeah come on bud we got a grave to dig pardon me we should yeah i didn't shoot him i got the gun out of your jockey box though so it's your fault too you're in on this so buddy comer said he said all right and shrugged and was like i guess so so he went with him to an area behind a sagebrush where the two of them began digging a hole yeah all right so um anyway they in the wounds for uh for here, Loesch, is one wound at the base of the thumb. So he had his hand up and he got a shot there. A piece of shrapnel was in there.

A second bullet entered his body from the back just above the collarbone and was found lodged at the base of the skull. That's when they put him down. Later, later. A third bullet, is will later be described as the cause of death is the third one entered the body through his left temple and was found in the right side of his brain so just wiped it out yeah um so anyway back to digging the hole as they were digging somehow they're digging in luann's like hanging out like cheering them on she's like uh Sandy at

Thunder Road she's just sitting on the side going go team go go team go so uh they're up there and uh while they're digging apparently Gerald turns to Luann and says how fast can you run Luann terrifying then he said quote are there any more shells to buddy comer uh comer said there's no more shells for the gun yeah so Gerald said quote it's just as well then this way I guess we won't kill Luann too Jesus you know she's been subpoenaed. We already got a hole dug. I mean, we might as well kill whoever we have to and put them in this hole. So before the grave was finished, Gerald goes back to the trailer and O'Neal came out and helped Buddy Comer finish the grave. He didn't even hang out for the whole grave digging, this guy. He had his friends dig the grave for him.

What a lazy fuck. You're a lazy shit, man. Born to win my ass so all three of them uh then helped carry and drag the body to the grave they threw it in there covered it with dirt and rocks and dead wood and all sorts of shit that they could they go back to the trailer and he makes luann cook hamburgers he really is born to win he's he's winning his ass off it gets better jimmy this line coming up here is that's this is the the cherry on the born to win sunday right here okay i hope he told him tattoo says born to win not born to dig y'all get this finished

so they get in there they're eating hamburgers he sits down he's eating hamburgers while he's eating hamburgers he calls he says about loach quote he was a hard-dying motherfucker boy apparently it took him a while there then he asks everybody else to leave and he asked luann ross to stay in the trailer with him because and i quote quote nothing makes me hornier than killing a man oh god jesus what nothing makes me hornier than killing a man i don't know why you eat that. He's such a pirate. He's a fucking monster. What the fuck? This guy is out of his fucking mind. So Luann's now got to put up with this? Well, I guess, yeah, bad enough I had to dig a grave and cook hamburgers.

Now I got to fuck this idiot, too. Endure. Oh, my God. It's sort of his girlfriend, but still, I don't think she's voluntary. I think this is long past voluntary at this point. She's being sequestered in a trailer in the middle of nowhere, digging graves, making hamburgers, fucking weirdos. This is slavery and then rape. Oh, this is terrible.

So then Buddy Cummer's girlfriend. All these people have girlfriends. Wow. Someone's going out with Buddy Cummer. Her name is Janet Bazant, B-E-z-z-a-n-t double z janet bazant uh she says here that uh uh gerald then told her the next day that after loche fell down he told her i put the gun right up to his head and fired so explain that so yeah this is this is pretty fucking interesting so now like we said the trial takes place he's convicted the trial's only a week long with

the sentencing and everything he's convicted you know sent away five to life they still don't know where steven loche is they think he's just escaping a subpoena yeah um until may of 1977 when a tip comes in i'm gonna say from one of the five people participating in this i hope it was the land there's chicks involved there's dudes named buddy like anything's possible you know what i mean anyone's could tell on them so um they found they find loach here uh here it's a-foot deep grave in a haystack yard area of the Oliver Sager Ranch. It's four miles east of Fruitland, and it's four miles south of the U.S. 40. It's in the Red Creek area. That's why we say it's in this area.

So it's about 90 miles east of Salt Lake City, like we said earlier. miles east of Salt Lake City, like we said earlier. And they said one of the leads investigated was there was a recently occupied trailer on that ranch. They found the trailer. They were looking into that. And it turns out the body's pretty close to the trailer. So they dig him up. Like I said, he's been there a month.

And it was in a hot time as well. So the body, they realize it's Stephen only by his dental records. He's decomposed terribly. They said other than the three gunshot wounds and where they were found, he was in such a state of decay they couldn't even tell what range the shots were fired. So there's no like skin to have a powder burn or anything like that. So, yeah. So three people are arraigned here. They arraign Gerald Paul Brown, who's already in prison.

They also arraign old Buddy Cummer and Michael O'Neill as well. Really? Yeah. They're all charged with murder. They charge everybody. Now, they're just trying to get the other two to flip against him, obviously.

So that's what ends up happening. They end up testifying against him and get their charges dropped to like obstruction of justice and shit like that. So they dropped, yeah, they drop against the first two and they're just charged with what are they charged? Yeah.

Just obstruction I think is what it is. So here we go. The Lowe's trial comes around. Buddy Comer testifies that it's his 22 caliber pistol took it done took it out my jockey box yeah and um yeah told the uh he told them that after the killing that brown had bragged that he killed loach with comer's gun and that comer if he wanted him to comer's gonna quote have to take the rap for it that's what he, which you might, if it was just the two of them out there, you might believe maybe Buddy Kummer did it. But the fact that there's so many other witnesses and he said the words, nothing makes me hornier than killing a man.

Yeah, that's enough to make your skin crawl. It's tough. Yeah, it's enough to make your skin crawl. It's tough. Yeah, it's very tough. So anyway, Buddy Kummer and Michael O'Neill are sentenced to up to five years in Utah State Prison for obstruction of justice, though. Failure to come forward with knowledge they had regarding a murder, even when they were asked. Kummer ends up getting put on probation for 30 months, though. So that's how that works. They both get probation. So Brown has a shrink here, a psychiatrist, testify for him.

And he said that it's all good, guys. I know it looks bad. But Gerald really had no responsibility for his actions. He said he had no sleep for four or five days, during which time he had taken the speed. He took Valium. He's drinking whiskey. During which time he had taken the speed, he took Valium, he's drinking whiskey. He said a ton of whiskey, a ton of beer, and the amphetamines the day that this happened.

He said, forget about it. They also brought up his history of stuttering as a child, which I don't know what that has to do. He sure said, nothing makes me hornier than killing a man pretty clearly. So his history of stuttering as a child and his inability to express his emotions adequately will obviously make you kill lots of people. And the pressures of the upcoming trial as well. You know, he said that the defendant here, he said it wasn't premeditated. This was a rage reaction. He could not have formed the requisite intent to kill for this. It was just a reaction.

He told a dude to dig a hole before he did this. He said, we're going to have to dig a hole. And then he went and did it. And then he bragged about it. And then he ate a hamburger afterwards. And then he banged some chick. This is wild. So Brown himself, he says he went into the trailer. He saw through the windows that Loesch had picked up a piece of firewood, which he described as a club.

So this was like a showdown that was going to go down. He said that a gun in a club. Well, he said at this point he didn't have the gun. He said that he was apprehensive that Loesch was going to try to harm him because usually the person who's going to testify against the bad person, they the they're the aggressor not the person who doesn't want that person to testify and the purpose of being out here is for loach to hide so that you can get away with murder yes and then he can do contempt time for you right so yeah he's doing you a favor i would say so so he said at this point brown said he took the gun to defend himself that That's all it was. And when he accosted Loesch with the weapon, Loesch took a step toward him, but he didn't raise the club.

He said, but at that point, he blacked out. He doesn't remember anything at all. He remembers Loesch starts coming toward me. Next thing you know, I'm standing over him with a gun in my hand. I don't know what's going on. You know how that goes here. him with a gun in my hand i don't know what's going on you know how that goes here um he said then he later on he testifies in court the next day that he thinks the first shot though he doesn't remember the whole shooting but the first shot he knows was a warning shot that was the thing he was like you have a club i have a gun bang warning shot you know what i mean so he said

that loach had gone nuts and threatened everybody with the club he was dangerous man here um he said so i don't know what to tell you you know i i i was out there and i i must have killed him i guess with the 22 but i don't think i did i just remember fire dangerous man on earth if he hears a warning shot and then says i'm gonna beat all of you to death well the warning shot was because he was threatening to beat everyone to death i don't care if there's more of you and one of you has a gun i'm gonna beat you all to death with wood then everybody testified as to what they saw oh no i saw him shoot him he bragged about it he you know ate a hamburger afterwards everything you can fucking imagine it made him horny you know it here so he said his argument basically brown is he did not kill loach for the purpose

of preventing him from testifying because that would be premeditated murder that is up for the death penalty he said what i did i was in a rage because he called me names and said i was going to be a punk in prison that was what it was that's why i killed him had nothing to do with prison rape and that that's what did it that's what did it so um yeah you know it's it's totally fine so the verdict comes in shockingly guilty of first degree murder not surprisingly you can't shoot in front of people then make them dig the hole and then be like it was an accident self-defense so during sentencing a written psychiatric evaluation here uh basically this is the same guy who examined him yeah they also have testimony from a guy named guy more his buddy buddy comer a guy named guy more he's a friend of his. Very vague name. Very vague. Sound like all sound like aliases, don't they?

He said that he's never seen Gerald Brown commit a an act of violence and that it's his opinion that he wasn't even capable of premeditated murder. It's just not that kind of guy. He's a nice guy. The testimony of his ex-wife, Phyllis Wilson Brown, said that he's a good influence on her two children from a previous marriage. He was a good. He was a great stepdad. And he's even a great father and a nice influence on their child that they had together. This man has a child, Jimmy.

Think about that. Luckily, he has a common last name and can blend in because, wow. You know, so they said said please send him to a prison for life don't don't give him a death penalty we want his children to be able to visit and be an we want him to be an influence on people you know in their future so um they say you sir may fuck off uh death penalty for you oh yeah i think it's just it sounds cumulative like it's like this is just getting worse and worse here so it's too much it's a lot so he's the first person sentenced to die in utah since the legislature amended the death penalty law to require an automatic appeal

which was a thing here i think gary gilmore was the first in utah before that because they keep in all his appeals they keep bringing bringing up Gary Gilmore and that same thing. So 1980, he appeals based on bad jury instructions and a couple other thing here. A couple things with the jury and most of his appeal was bullshit. But the jury instructions are very specific. And if a word is off or something's off, the court asked each juror the following question beforehand. Do you have any reason to believe you can't listen to the evidence here in court and the law as I give it to you and based solely on that evidence in the law and nothing else render a fair and just verdict between the parties?

between the parties. So any implications that the jurors much must render a verdict of death in every case in which a verdict of guilty is determined as was the impression found to have been made by the court. So basically they didn't tell the jurors ahead of time enough that this, you were going to be deciding a death penalty case is what, how they decided. So they say, nevermind,

no death penalty. You sir may fuck off life in prison. Okay. Without.. No death penalty. You, sir, may fuck off. Life in prison. Okay. Without? Yeah. Life without. So he's going to prison forever.

There's that. He's already got another life sentence, and now he's going for this one. Okay. So the crazy part is, and it's going to be consecutively run, too, as well. Oh, boy. In other words, they don't want him out is what it sounds like. That's consecutive with his other sounds like uh that's consecutive with his other sentence so uh that's a commutation so he's in prison for 10 years after that

you figure just rotting away doing his appeals to trying to get his shit delayed and all that oh sweet jesus then in 1990 uh he and two other men are found to be missing from the prison. Oh, my God. I didn't expect that. And a maintenance truck is found stolen. He escaped from prison, Jimmy. They hid in a secret compartment built on the prison maintenance truck. A jockey box?

A jockey box. Now, that's why it would be called a jockey box. It's tiny, and the only thing you can fit in, it's a jockey. Oh, my God. Or someone who's willing to curl up real tight because they're escaping prison. This is in the 80s? This is 1990. Oh, my God.

Some maintenance worker just drove the truck out of the secure compound, and that's it. First of all, he's also in a medium security prison. He's in jail for two murders. Why is he not? That's crazy. That's maximum. I don't care how nice of a guy medium security prison. He's in jail for two murders. Why is he not? That's crazy. That's maximum. I don't care how nice of a guy he is. He should be Hannibal Lecter'd up for what he's done. Plus he escapes and runs away.

So they say that they think one of the guys built the hidden compartment on the truck because he was a maintenance worker inside the prison. So they think in his spare time he was building a box in the bottom and gerald got himself in this too so the search originally centers in the american fork canyon and then later that afternoon they found because they found the utility truck abandoned there yeah so state troopers they sealed everything off to all this terrain they focused on the provo canyon they're looking all over there's cabins in an area above Sundance that were all evacuated out because there could be dangerous, murderous prisoners on the loose. It gets to be this huge thing. They said that the operations were difficult because of the numerous radio frequencies involved because of the mountainous terrain. They were having trouble communicating with each other so uh they keep looking around apparently at one point here they the prisoners encounter a uh who is this guy he's like the the head of the campsite at this place they encounter him what the hell i can't find his name here but they yeah he's the host there you go the camp host thank you that the host was the word i was looking

for but i've never been camping. So I just remember reading host. So they encounter the host. The host says, hey, you guys look like escaped prisoners. Stop right there. Nice stripes. So they start bucking shots at him. They have guns. They have a gun, Jimmy.

They have a nickel-plated.38 caliber in their possession. What the fuck is happening? Bucking shots off. One of the guys, the George guy who built the escape hatch there, the jockey box, he's in jail for a long time because he had previously escaped in 1985 and went on a huge

violent robbery spree, apparently. So the operation moved to the Aspen campground about 1030 a.m. That's not Aspen, Colorado. That's still this area after an unconfirmed sighting there. And they said that several shots had been heard. And that was the host of the campground being fired on.

So 50 law enforcement officers from six agencies kind of swarm in on this. They said that Brown grew up in Pleasant Grove and knows the Canyon quote like the back of his hand. So that's scary. He's been negotiating. They found some guy who knows the area and said if he knew where to go through the ridges, he could have escaped from where you guys were to begin with. So it's fucking nuts. So anyway, yeah, they were stopped.

They fired the gun. The host then fired six shots back at him. Of course. Those guys are dangerous. Well, there's bears around and shit. They've got to be armed. So they're exchanging gunfire back and forth, which I don't know if you've ever heard gunfire in a canyon, but you can hear that for 100 miles at a let go. So if you hear a dozen shots exchanged, you gonna go what the fuck is going on especially from

a third fight a 38's got a pop to it too that's not a it's not a 22 yeah no one's no one's mistaking that for firecrackers you know so um anyway they ended up they broke into some nearby cabins the prisoners did and they end up finally being caught lying in tall grass and oak brush about 50 feet apart 200 feet from the theater in the pines located in mount tipa tipa nagos campground about two miles north of sundance so horrifying you know sundance where they have that very very prestigious festival there so uh they said there was no resistance they were both pretty tired that just as we were tired and they probably wanted a warm meal as well they were ready to give up they were like fuck it so they said the guy at the campground that lives there is the last

guy you want to fuck with that's a retired guy who just wants relaxation and he's armed and he fights off wild animals on the daily that guy encounters grizzly bears on a regular basis and wolves and cougars and shit don't fuck with that guy never so um they said they asked the the uh sheriff guy about it and he said quote it's a hell of a lot better to find them than to lose them well no shit well done sir they said we were sure that if they got into a cabin tonight they would have access to television and they would have been able to see our progress and know to run, basically. So they didn't want that. So they shackled them and brought them back, bring them back in.

They were both wearing faded shirts, jeans, and worn shoes and appeared to be exhausted and unsure, unsteady on their feet as well. So they're hit with extra charges as well. Obviously they're hit with escape charges and all that sort of thing. And they have a gun. So there's also robbery charges and burglar or burglary, not robbery charges. So he's got all sorts of more charges on him there. So he gets back in his cell. They put him in.

Yeah, they catch him. And about 3 a.m. put him in yeah they catch him and uh about 3 a.m they discover him hanged in his cell with with strips of bed sheet about 3 a.m that's it he couldn't get away he hung himself hanged himself up yep strung himself up and uh wow yep he uh they said there was no reason to believe he was suicidal they interviewed him made no suicidal comments acted like he was fine like normal and um he wasn't hanging himself in his cell what part of two life sentences and then escapes makes you think that he's not willing to risk at all he

doesn't want to be there clearly no he's going to kill himself he left a suicide note yeah found two notes in one note to his mother he said would, quote, rather be dead than spend the rest of my life here. As you know, I tried my best to get away, and that didn't work, so I've chosen to take this way out. I think he fucking summed it up pretty goddamn well there. So, yeah, he was buried in the Pleasant Grove, Utah City Cemetery, And he was 47 years old, September 9th, 1990. He's dead. So there you go. Holy shit.

That is rural Utah, Red Creek, wherever the fuck it was. And a hell of a wild story, I've got to say. His life gives me so much anxiety. It's so much. It's escape from jail, be wanted for this, kill your friend, dig a hole, eat a hamburger, get horny. It's just a lot going on shooting wow 10 pounds of lightning and a half pound ziploc is what that is in a dime bag is what we just did there that's a lot so oh wow there you go if you like that

tell the world give us a review five stars shut up and give me murder.com. San Francisco, August 12th. Two shows at Cobb's. Different shows. September 10th. The Paps in Milwaukee. Patreon.com slash crime and sports. This week, John Rocker for crime and sports. Skidmore, Missouri. Whole town that doesn't give a shit that a public murder happened.

Wild story. Hear it all right there and get a shout out on the regular show. That said, thank you very much, everybody. Until next next week it's been our pleasure put into the station bye Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Small Town Murder early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. Or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. Tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. I understand that anybody who's paid attention to the media would have to come to the conclusion that I killed my wife.

Hi, my name is Zach Stewart-Pontier. I'm one of the filmmakers behind The Jinx, and I'm excited to bring you the official Jinx podcast. We'll be revisiting all six episodes of Part 1 and watching along with Part 2 as it airs on Max, starting April 21st. Bye-bye. The Official Jinx Podcast.

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